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Health Equity Advocacy

The Colorado Trust believes advocacy for policy change is a cornerstone to achieving health equity. Health Equity Advocacy (HEA) is a multi-year funding strategy with the goal to build a strong and diverse field of health equity advocates in the state. We believe that building a strong field of advocates—rather than merely strong, individual advocacy organizations operating in isolation—leads to greater sustainability and to advocates’ ability to successfully respond to a changing political climate.

The strategy is made up of a partnership of 18 direct-service, community organizing and policy advocacy grantees; Social Policy Research Associates (SPR), an evaluation firm; and The Colorado Trust. Referred to as the HEA "cohort," this partnership is working to build and nurture a strong field of organizations that can advocate together to impact policy decisions to improve health equity in Colorado for years to come. Cohort members collaborate on decisions related to which policy topics to address, capacities to build and strengthen the partnership, communications activities to undertake, how to assure engagement of affected populations in their advocacy effort and how strategy funds should be used. Download any of the resources listed below to learn more. Grant contact:Noelle Dorward, Advocacy & Policy Partner, (303) 837-1200.

Seeding a Health Equity Advocacy Field
(SPR created individual case studies of each of the organizations in the HEA cohort, highlighting the work they accomplished both individually and collectively in phase 2 of the HEA strategy (2015-16))

Network Partners
The HEA cohort provides “network strengthening grants” to partner organizations as part of the cohort’s strategy to build a cohesive field of advocates. Cohort members are responsible for selecting their partners, working with their network partner to determine the scope of work, and ensuring that they are connecting to the field-building framework. The Trust acts as a thought partner in implementing the strategy and administering the grants. During this phase of the HEA strategy, $1,020,000 is allocated for grants to network partners. Click here for more information and a complete list of 2018-19 HEA network strengthening grants.

Evaluation
SPR is conducting an independent evaluation of the Health Equity Advocacy grant strategy. The evaluation will document and assess the progress made toward the creation of a robust health advocacy field, identify challenges, opportunities and lessons learned to support further progress, and provide ongoing learning opportunities for grantees as a means to reflect on and refine activities, tactics and strategies. Evaluation contact:Felisa Gonzales, PhD, MPH, Research, Evaluation & Strategic Learning Manager, (303) 837-1200.